Burkina Faso Coup Leader in Custody

General Gilbert Diendéré has been handed over to the gendarmerie after seeking refuge in the Vatican embassy

Associated Press
Thursday 1 October 2015 19.51 EDT

The general who recently took power in Burkina Faso during a short-lived coup is in custody.

Gilbert Diendéré, who stepped down after about a week in power, has been handed over to the gendarmerie, said Boureima Ouedraogo, a spokesman for the defence ministry.

Diendéré, who led the September coup, sought refuge at the Vatican embassy on Tuesday after the army opened fire on his supporters in the presidential guard to force them to disarm, someone who works closely with the clergy said.

Diendéré had called on his supporters in the presidential guard to lay down their arms as part of the peace deal. He said that he was willing to surrender to authorities.

“I am willing to turn myself over to face justice,” he said on Wednesday. “I would like the people of Burkina Faso to find a solution to this crisis through dialogue.”

The government vowed that Diendéré and his accomplices would receive a fair trial. They are accused of trying “to stop the process to democracy and liberty for the people of Burkina Faso”.

The elite presidential guard arrested interim president Michel Kafando and interim prime minister Yacouba Isaac Zida on 16 September. Diendéré later took power but stepped down after pressure from the west African regional bloc, Burkina Faso’s military and demonstrating citizens. The transitional government was reinstalled on 23 September.

The presidential guard staged the coup because it was unhappy that the former president, Blaise Compaoré, was ousted in a popular uprising in October last year after ruling for nearly 30 years and could not run in elections.

About 750 of the 1,300 members of the former presidential guards have joined a unit within the army, according to the army’s spokesman, Captain Guy Herve Ye.